


Fearlessly and Forever

by RavenpuffWrites



Series: Beauty and the Mermaid [3]
Category: Glee
Genre: Also B has reading glasses fight me on this, AnderBros, Blaine has a stutter, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, It's a bit of a long haul, M/M, Meet the Family, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sadie Hawkins Dance, Slow Burn, and it improves after the first chapter I promise, it's a mess sort of, lots of chaos but in a good way, lots of main characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-09-21 06:26:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17038454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenpuffWrites/pseuds/RavenpuffWrites
Summary: “We met right here. I took this man’s hand, and we ran down that hallway. And for those of you that know me, know I’m not in the habit of taking people’s hands I’ve never met before. But I think that my soul knew something that my body and my mind didn’t know yet. It knew that our hands were meant to hold each other... fearlessly and forever.”When he was 15, Blaine Anderson met Kurt Hummel and in an instant his entire life had changed again. Only this time, it had changed in the best way possible.





	1. I Took This Man's Hand and We Ran Down That Hallway

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is going to have very slow updates at least until the time I finish the fic before this, Before I Met You, I Was Alright (But Things Were Kind Of Heavy). And it's likely the first chapter of this story is going to get edited a fair bit when I get back around to it.   
> Mostly because it doesn't fit in the style very well.

He was late.

Again.

Blaine checked his pocket watch for the third time as he rushed down the staircase, wondering if maybe the twins hadn’t stolen it at some point before Wes had given it to him and it made it run fast so that the time it was showing wasn’t the actual time. Maybe he wasn’t as late as it made him out to be.

Or maybe Wes had a point when he got Blaine a pocket watch for his birthday because he always seemed to be running late. Maybe he should start letting whoever was on duty walk with him everywhere like they did last year. At least that would give a better chance of him showing up on time then when he’s left alone. Wes had hoped the pocket watch would help with that, but so far it hadn’t helped much.

Maybe running later wasn’t such a bad thing though, because if Blaine hadn’t been walking down the stairs at that moment he wouldn’t have heard a voice saying “Excuse me?”

Before he realized what he’s doing Blaine was turning towards the voice, expecting to see one of the Warblers (who were no doubt going to tease him for being late yet again) or at least another Dalton boy he had class with.

Instead, standing on the staircase a few steps above him is maybe the most beautiful boy Blaine had ever seen, wearing an outfit that distinctly did not blend with Dalton dress code.

So he was a spy then.

“Uhm hi, can I ask you a question? I’m new here.”

There are two seconds of hesitation where Blaine is running through every way this scenario could go wrong in the back of his head, but before he can think it through he’s extending his hand and saying “My name is Blaine.”

It comes out faster than he intended so that his words slur together just slightly, but it’s understandable and he doesn’t stutter one, which is an achievement all its own considering where he stood last year.

The spy didn’t seem to notice, or if he did he didn’t seem to care, and he shakes Blaine’s hand as he introduces himself “Kurt.”

There’s a pause in which all Blaine can think is how he’s never heard a better name, before the spy, before Kurt, asks a question that demands his attention “So what’s exactly going on?”

If Blaine hadn’t known he was a spy before then that moment would have been a dead give away. New student or not, when the Warblers gave a performance the entire school was aware. It was kind of hard not to be when the twins would come over the speakers to make the announcement without the permission of Dean Windsor. Meaning that most performances were also accompanied by some sort of distraction. “The Warblers. Every now and then they throw an impromptu performance in the senior commons. It tends to shut the school down for a while.”

“So wait, the glee club here is kind of cool?” Kurt asked, his face scrunching up in confusion and shock. And Blaine realized then that spying wasn’t the only reason Kurt had come to Dalton. Something else was going on.

“The Warblers are like rock stars,” Blaine said, repeating the words Cooper had said to him what seemed like a lifetime ago

* * *

  _“The Warblers are like rock stars, B. I’m telling you, it’s incredible to see how much to school loves them. Loves us,” Cooper laughed softly, falling back on his bed next to Blaine, looking happier than he had since the move six months ago. “The entire school stops every time we perform. It’s like they can’t get enough of us.”_

_“It’s probably because you look ridiculous,” Blaine teased, snuggling up against his brother’s side, smiling as Cooper automatically wrapped his arms around him in return. It wasn’t often they got to spend time together just relaxing now that Cooper was attending a private school an hour away, and didn’t have time to come home every night between Warbler practice and homework. Not to mention the fact their dad never wanted him home. It was nice for just the two of them to be together, and for Cooper to be so relaxed._

_“I’m really glad you have the Warblers, Coop,” Blaine said sleepily, yawning quietly as he shifted closer, trying to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. “They make you happy.”_

_“They do,” Cooper agreed, smiling fondly down at his baby brother, who seemed to have grown years in the past months thanks to the bullying in his new school, and the fear of what their father would do if he found out that Blaine was gay. It made Cooper almost feel guilty for having so much fun while B was struggling. At least there was only a year left until he joined Cooper at Dalton._

_“I can’t wait until you get to meet them Squirt. The Warblers are going to love you.”_

_“Do you really think they’ll like me?” Blaine asked, looking up at Cooper hopefully._

_“I know they will. You’re going to be the one that makes us the greatest rockstars of all.”_

* * *

 After Sadie Hawkins, the dream of Blaine becoming a Warbler seemed almost impossible. He could hardly even talk to Cooper, let alone find the courage to sing in front of a group of people. Moving on, starting over, it had all seemed impossible the start of his Freshman year. He was scared of everything, of everyone, he couldn’t speak, couldn’t sing, couldn’t stop reliving the memories of his past.

Blaine thought after Sadie Hawkins he was going to stay broken forever. But with a lot of help from his brother and the ragtag group of troublemakers who called themselves the Marauders, slowly Blaine felt the cracks start to heal. It wasn’t all at once, and even now there were still scars left behind he couldn’t escape from (both physical and mental ones), but it was so much further than he ever dreamed he would come.

He was in the Warblers, he was one of their lead singers, when a year ago he couldn’t even look most of them in the eye.

And here he was talking to Kurt, to a complete stranger (and a cute one at that), without having to fight to get every word out. After Sadie Hawkins even talking to Cooper had seemed an impossible task at first.

* * *

  _“And for those of you that know me, know I’m not in the habit of taking people’s hands I’ve never met before.”_

* * *

 If you had asked Blaine that morning if he would have grabbed the hand of a stranger he just met,

“Come on, I know a shortcut.”

He would have told you you had lost your mind.

But there was Kurt, and there was the two of them running down an empty hallway to the senior commons, hand holding hand,

* * *

  _“But I think that my soul knew something that my body and my mind didn’t know yet. It knew that our hands were meant to hold each other... fearlessly and forever.”_

* * *

 Blaine couldn’t pinpoint what about Kurt that was able to change his mind so quickly. But he wasn’t about to question it either.


	2. "You'll Fit Right In"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you bring a spy to Warbler practice, there's bound to be questions from your friends.   
> And if there are questions from your friends then they'll want to get to know him.   
> And if your friends were anybody but the Marauders, that wouldn't be a problem.   
> Because they wouldn't talk to him about aliens or scream about platonic husbands or lose a snake on a campus meant to be free from pets

Ten minutes before the twins reached Dean Windsor’s office to make the announcement, Wes had sent a text out to the Warblers informing them that the council had decided that today was the perfect time to give an impromptu performance. Especially considering they had been running short on practices lately after the antics of a certain pair of scientists got the entire school evacuated no less than three times in the past week (Charlie and Julius maintained the first two times were an accident, and they really hadn’t meant to disrupt practice, but Wes still hadn’t quite forgiven them yet). 

The main reason Wes let the Warblers know a little ahead of time instead of just springing it on them was to give the boys time to prepare and to make sure they got to senior commons before the performance started. A heads up to make sure they were on time essentially, and ready to perform. Wes had hoped it would stop anyone from being late, but as had become the trend since Blaine insisted that ‘Blaine Duty’ didn’t need to extend past watching for nightmares anymore, their lead singer was, of course, the last to show up. 

“Honestly Wes, I don’t know why you expected anything different,” Josh said as he watched Wes pace back and forth in front of the group of Warblers, every one of them standing ready to perform (more or less anyways) except for Blaine. 

“Ariel is never on time unless one of us is dragging him along.” James continued, grabbing Wes’ arm when he passed again, stopping him in his tracks and giving Josh enough time to grab onto his other arm so that they could trap Wes into place between them. “He’ll show up eventually. Just have patience.” 

“Besides, the entire school isn’t even here yet so he’s really not that late,” Josh pointed out, motioning towards the doorway where students were still pouring into the room. 

Including their youngest Marauder to date, Oliver, whose bright ginger hair made him easy to spot in any crowd. Their brown eyes were wide as they frantically weaved through the crowd until they were standing in front of the boys, slightly out of breath and their cheeks flushed from having run all the way there, but none of that mattered as soon as they started to speak “You’ll never guess what I just saw on the staircase!!” 

They only paused a second, long enough for a few other Warblers to fall silent in curiosity but not long enough anyone had a chance to say anything before they said: “Blaine was talking to a spy!”

“A spy?” Wes said, narrowing his eyes at the word, while from the other side of the twins Mason’s eyes widened as he asked 

“Blaine was talking to a stranger? Alone?” 

Oliver nodded rapidly, glancing over their shoulder before they added. “And he grabbed his hand!”

“He grabbed his hand?” David repeated, sharing a look of surprise with the others as Oliver nodded their head again in confirmation. “Oli, are you sure this is  _ our  _ Blaine?” 

“Oh it’s our Blaine alright,” Wes replied, nodding towards the door where Blaine had just appeared, dropping the hand of the spy as he did so. “I can’t believe he brought a  _ spy  _ to our practice.” 

“Wesley that is not the important part of this!” David argued, hitting his best friend lightly in the arm as he used is other hand to gesture towards Blaine, “Our Blaine is flirting! With a total stranger!” 

“B’s flirting?” Jeff asked, popping up out of nowhere beside the group with Nick in tow, both of them looking confused until they turned their heads in the direction that David was pointing. 

“Holy shit,” Nick whispered, just as Blaine turned towards the group and a few of the Warblers paying perhaps more attention to the performance started to sing the opening notes of the song. 

“After” Wes mouthed to the group, ushering them all into their places just as Blaine started to sing. 

* * *

_ “Before you met me, I was alright. But things were kinda heavy, you brought me to life”  _

* * *

As soon as the Warblers fell silent and the cheering around them started up, the Marauders descended around Blaine like a pack of coyotes around a rabbit. Before he even had a chance to realize what was happening, the twins had swept him up in a hug, lifting him off the ground in between them as they cooed over how well he had done,

“Ariel, you were amazing!” 

“Even better than at practice!” 

“You had so much energy!” 

“Everyone loved it, it was the best Warbler performance ever!” 

“And you didn’t even get nervous once,” 

“Not even with the mysterious spy watching,” 

“We’re so proud of you!!” 

“Okay, Okay, that’s enough you idiots,” Mason scolded, walking up behind James and pulling his arms away enough so Blaine could wiggle himself free of their grasp. “Unless you want Blaine to go on one of his revenge sprees again, I suggest you stop making him all flustered and embarrassed.” 

And it was true that Blaine’s face was bright red, and mostly hidden behind his hands, and he was muttering a string of threats in a language none of them could understand, but there was still a smile on his face that only faltered when Wes appeared, arms crossed, looking thoroughly unimpressed as he nodded at Kurt. 

“Anderson, I hope you have a very good explanation for why you’ve brought a spy to our performance.” 

“One that doesn’t involve your crush,” David adding, standing beside Wes and attempting to look similarly upset, although he was failing miserably to keep the hint of a smile off his face. “Not that we don’t appreciate the fact you’re trying to make friends on your own,”

“And we are very proud of you for talking to a stranger because we know that isn’t easy for you,” Wes agreed, his own face softening slightly for a moment as he looked down at Blaine, who was starting to look much like a kid being scolded by his parents. “But you can’t be giving away Warbler secrets weeks before Sectionals.” 

“He needed a friend, Wes,” Blaine said softly, looking up at the lead councilman through his eyelashes, begging him to see his point of view. He gestured towards where Kurt was still hovering by the door, his eyes wide in wonder and disbelief as he watched the other Warblers mingling with the student body, everyone talking to each other without any sort of boundaries. “He didn’t even know the Warblers were performing today. He just got incredibly lucky we happened to be.” 

“Not a very good spy then, is he?” Mason mused, their eyebrows knitting together as he looked Kurt up and down, adding “He has impeccable taste in clothes, there’s no way he couldn’t have gotten much closer to blending in with our uniform.” 

“Then he didn’t come here to spy on us,” James concluded, looking around at the small part of their group that had gathered there, all of whom seemed to have come to a similar conclusion. 

“He was looking for something else,” Josh added, a sympathetic look crossing his face as he stared at Kurt. “For acceptance.”

“Are you going to talk to him, B?” David asked, causing Blaine to tear his eyes away from Kurt and back to his group of friends. Suddenly the reality of all that happened in the past few minutes settled on Blaine’s shoulders, and he took a shuddering breath in as anxiety suddenly clenched in his chest. 

“I-I-I-” Blaine stuttered, before taking a deeper but still shaky breath, his eyes suddenly wide in fear at the thought of being alone with Kurt. He couldn’t, not now, but somebody needed to talk to him and Blaine was the only person he knew and he wanted to do it but he just couldn’t and-

“Blaine. Look at me,” Wes’s sharp council voice cut through Blaine’s thoughts, and with some amount of difficulty, he turned himself so that he was facing Wes and looking straight into his eyes. “Count your breaths with me, okay? 4-7-8.” 

Blaine just barely nodded, but he held eye contact with Wes as the elder began to count, and though it took a few tries to get there it didn’t take long before he was breathing had slowed, and the worst part of his anxiety faded away. 

“S-Sorry,” Blaine muttered when finally he felt his ability to speak come back to him, a new redness coming to his face as his eyes dropped to the floor in shame. “I sh-sh-shouldn’t have… s-sorry.” 

“Would it help it Wes and I accompanied you to talk to Kurt?” David suggested, glancing at Wes to make sure he was okay with the idea before continuing “Since we’re both on the council, it would make sense for us to want to meet the spy.” 

“I  _ do  _ want to meet the spy,” Wes said under his breath, causing a hint of a smile to tug at Blaine’s lips as he continued to mumble about “good reason or not, he’s still a spy and someone has to make sure he doesn’t spill all of our secrets.” 

Even while trying to be a good friend Wes couldn’t completely turn off his Warbler loyalty (it was one of the reasons he was two and a half years running now leading the council). 

“And Wes will even leave his gavel here so he doesn’t scare your spy off. Won’t you Wesley?” David said the last sentence while staring pointedly at his best friend, who had at some point gotten ahold of his gavel and was now holding it like his life depended on it. 

Wes frowned as soon as David said his name, looking between Kurt, his gavel, and Blaine before sighing reluctantly, agreeing “Fine, I’ll leave the gavel here.” 

“Good,” David smiled as Wes moved to place his gavel back on the council table. As he walked away David leaned towards the twins and Mason, stage whispering to them “Now’s the time to get rid of it while he’s not looking.” 

“I heard that!” Wes yelled over his shoulder, causing the four of them to dissolve into giggles, and even Blaine couldn’t help but smile at their antics. Maybe the thing Blaine appreciated most about his friends was that they were always able to make him feel better even at the times he should feel like absolute shit. 

“If you two dare lay a hand on my gavel, I will find those creepy clown dolls Blaine put in your room last year and unlike him, I won’t be nice enough to remove them.”

The twins, who had still been giggling at the start of Wes’s threat had quickly sobered up at the mention of the dolls Blaine had filled their room with last year as part of the series of revenge pranks he pulled on all of the current Marauders (minus Connor, who he instead enlisted to help him). Although Blaine along with the help of Mason had promptly removed the dolls upon finding out, and Blaine swore that he had gotten rid of them for good, the threat of them possibly reappearing was ones the twins never took lightly. 

“You are an evil soul Wes,” Josh hissed, poking his head out from behind Mason where he had retreated along with James as if somehow they would be able to protect the two from the evil clowns. 

“A tyrant,” James agreed, glaring at the older boy from the other side of Mason. “Who is taking away all of our free will.” 

“All part of the job,” Wes smirked, turning away from the twins now that he was satisfied there was a higher chance at least they wouldn’t mess with his gavel (although with the twins nothing was a 100% guarantee even with a threat like the one Wes delivered). “Blaine, David, are you two ready to go confront our spy?” 

“I think your spy might be ready for you to save him from Niff,” Charlie quipped, walking from the direction that the boys had last seen Kurt, a half-amused smile on his lips. “Jeff’s started talking about aliens and I don’t think the poor kid knows whether he should take him serious or not.” 

“I don’t think even Nick is sure if we should take Jeff seriously on this on not,” Julius replied, a slight frown on his face as he turned the thought over in his head. “Obviously aliens are real, but Jeff’s imagination of them are far outside the realities of science and also common sense.” 

Blaine whined quietly at Julius and Charlie’s words, looking anxiously over towards where he last saw Kurt. He whined louder in distress when he caught sight of Kurt’s confused face, saying to Wes and David “They’re going to scare him off! We have to go rescue him.”

“Blaine having a crush is officially the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” David chuckled, wrapping an arm around the younger boy and ignoring his protest that he “definitely did not have a crush on Kurt, thank you very much!” and saying to Wes

“Come on Wesley. Let’s go save the spy from Niff and figure out what secrets he plans to take home with him.”

“If he knows what’s good for him, the answer will be none,” Wes said shortly, crossing his arms across his chest, but there was a half smile on his face that said he wasn’t being entirely serious. 

“If you two can’t play nice, I’ll bring Mason with me instead,” Blaine muttered, glaring up at the two councilmen. “At least they have the lowest chance of scarring Kurt.” 

“At least we’re not the twins,” David pointed out, eliciting minor protest from the two in question, although the smiles on their faces gave way they knew exactly why David had called them out. “They’re as far from sane as you can get.” 

“We might embarrass you and scare your spy, but at least we won’t scar him for life,” Wes added cheekily, and Blaine let out a quiet groan, wiggling out of David’s grasp. 

“I hate all of you,” Blaine sighed, shaking his head slowly before he turned and walked away from the group, heading towards Kurt alone to start the spy confrontation. 

“Should we… follow him?” David asked, looking over at Wes who only shrugged in response. 

“Maybe.” 

“You’re the biggest help Wesley, truly.” David sighed, rolling his eyes at his best friend, who grinned cheekily in response, throwing an arm around his shoulders. 

“You looooove me, David.” Wes teased, grinning wider as David shoved him off. 

“Debatable,” David deadpanned, ignoring the way Wes gasped woundedly in response. “But regardless I have to put up with you, and you are the head of the council for whatever reason, so let’s go make sure that everything with the spy gets handled.” 

“You’re the worst best friend in the world, you know that David?” Wes grumbled, a slight pout on his face. “You don’t even care about me.” 

“Not in the slightest,” David said dryly, turning away from Wes without another word and walking off after Blaine. Wes gasped in fake offense, but after a minute ran after David, throwing his arms around the older boy as soon as he came to a stop behind Blaine. If the laughter of Jeff and Nick that followed was any indication, it was likely Wes had launched into another one of his “Please David love me” spiels. 

“And people assume that we’re the two dating,” Charlie said quietly as he turned towards Julius, shaking his head as David tried to get Wes to let him go to no avail. “They act more like a couple than we ever have.” 

“Now there’s a theory Jeff would enjoy,” Julius mused, resting his head on top of Charlie’s as he wrapped his arms around the shorter boy, smiling as Charlie, in turn, moved to hug him back. “David and Wes are never joking when they say they’re dating.” 

“But what about Maddie?” Charlie asked, causing Julius to hum quietly for a moment in thought before he answered 

“Wes is polyamorous and he’s dating both of them.”

“I’d buy it,” Charlie agreed, breaking the hug and instead grabbing one of Julius’s hands in his, lacing their fingers together like it was second nature. “Wes and David, the secret bi lovers.” 

Julius giggled at that, causing a soft smile to cross Charlie’s face and he squeezed their joined hands, tugging Julius gently towards the door. 

“Come on Robin, let’s go see if Monty’s come back to his tank yet.” 

“If not we should probably let the others know they might find a snake in their room,” Julius said, swinging their hands lightly as they headed back towards the dorms. “Well, maybe not Mason because he’s afraid of snakes. But we should definitely tell the others.” 

“Do you think they’ll be alarmed we’ve been illegally harboring a snake in our room for the past month?” Charlie asked, and Julius shrugged, a mischievous smile on his lips 

“Maybe. But they’d be more alarmed if they found out this wasn’t the first time.” 

Charlie laughed, throwing his head back at just the right moment that the sunlight lit up across his face perfectly, and Julius felt his heart stutter just slightly at how beautiful Charlie looked. 

But it was in a totally platonic way, of course. Charlie always made his heart stop, his breath catch in his throat, but that’s just because he was Charlie. He had that effect on people. And if Julius was effected a little more than most people, well that’s just because they were best friends. It was just how it worked

“After we rehome Monty maybe we should tell them about our hidden animal business.” 

“Maybe. But not while we still have a python.”

“No, definitely not while we still have the python.” 

* * *

To be honest, Kurt wasn’t exactly sure what to think of the duo standing in front of him. The blonde one, Jeff he had introduced himself as, was talking animatedly about how when aliens invaded the earth they would most definitely disguise themselves as humans and try to blend in, and there could even be aliens among them right now. His boyfriend, Nick, was listening with a lovesick smile, but every now and then he glanced over towards Kurt and his face shifted to one that almost seemed like an apology for Jeff’s rants.

Kurt wasn’t even sure where they had come from, or why they had decided to come talk to him. He had been waiting at the door for Blaine to break away from the group of Warblers congratulating him on his performance, still in slight awe of everything he had witnessed in the past few minutes. Meeting Blaine, seeing him perform, seeing the Warblers perform (for something just casually thrown together, they were  _ good.  _ Sectionals was not going to be an easy win), and most shockingly of all seeing just how well the school seemed to accept them. At first, Kurt thought Blaine was joking when he said the Warblers were like rock stars, but after watching their performance and seeing just how into it every student seemed to get… suddenly the comparison didn’t seem so far off. 

Kurt swore he had only closed his eyes just a second to try and slow his spinning thoughts, make sense out of how  _ this _ could just so easily exist in the middle of Ohio. At an all-boys school, no less. 

It was the last thing Kurt had been expecting to find, and so he closed his eyes however briefly to try and catch thoughts up with reality. When he opened them again, Blaine had disappeared from sight, and standing directly in front of him were two boys. 

Who were holding hands. 

And, as Kurt learned quickly, who were dating. 

And didn’t that throw him for a loop. Not only were the Warblers rockstars, not only was the boy he met on the staircase who was probably maybe hopefully gay their lead. But here were two boys who were very proudly holding hands, completely upfront about their relationship and the fact they were in love, and yet no one seemed to bat an eye. 

Kurt had no idea what to make of that, either. Of the fact that in the middle of homophobic fucking Ohio, there was a place where two boys could walk hand in hand without getting stares. Without being harassed. 

Even when one of those boys believed adamantly that aliens had already invaded their world and was now giving Kurt tips on how to tell if one of his friends or family had been replaced by said aliens. 

Maybe that’s why no one was staring or shooting the pair looks of disgust as they walked past. If this was something Jeff did on a regular basis as Nick’s faces suggested, then the fact he just so happened to be dating a boy was certainly the less strange thing about him. 

Kurt was musing all of this over when Blaine walked up, looking slightly disgruntled, although his face split into a well-practiced smile as soon as his eyes met Kurt’s. Blaine waited until Kurt smiled back before he turned towards Jeff, elbowing the taller blonde in his side in hopes of making him fall silent.

“Jeff, I love you, but we all know if there were aliens in Dalton, Charlie and Julius would have already found out and would be doing their weird experiments on them,” Blaine said seriously, his back to Kurt so that he didn’t see the shocked and slightly concerned look to cross his face. Nick, however, definitely did, and fighting back a laugh he added 

“Assuming the twins hadn’t already roped them into using their alien powers to destroy the whole school.”

“Nick! Don’t give them ideas!” Jeff protested, hitting his boyfriend lightly in the arm, real concern on his face and in his voice. 

“The twins or the aliens?” Nick asked, unable to stop himself this time from snickering at both Jeff’s distressed face and Kurt’s very obvious confusion. God he didn’t get to mess with the others much, but suddenly he understood why the twins enjoyed doing so so much. It was fucking amusing. 

“All of them!” Jeff exclaimed a little too loudly. A few heads turned towards the direction of the group, but upon realizing it was only the Marauders, they turned away. Most of the time you were better of not knowing the cause of an outburst when it came from a part of their group. “I mean, I still stand by the idea the twins are actually aliens who infiltrated earth, in which case we’re already doomed, but if they’re not you shouldn’t be giving them ideas on what they could do if they did meet aliens.” 

Kurt opened his mouth to ask if Jeff was actually being serious right now, if any of them were being serious right now, because honestly, he couldn’t tell anymore if they were, but halfway through forming the first word, he realized he would rather not know the answer, and the question died on his lips before the others could ever know it had existed. 

Instead, he settled for sighing softly, catching the attention of Blaine, who turned towards Kurt concerned, placing a hand over Jeff’s mouth to shut off his rambling so that he could ask “Are you okay, Kurt?” 

Caught off guard by the sudden question directed his way, Kurt only blinked back for several seconds in response, before he nodded slowly, “This is just a lot to take in is all. It’s different then what I expected when I came…” 

“When you came to spy on us?” David supplied helpfully as he walked up behind group, startling all four of them, especially Blaine, who turned his head so quickly to see who was speaking it was a miracle he didn’t get whiplash.

“David!” Blaine breathed out, his voice caught somewhere between relieved and annoyed, because while it was only one of his best friends standing there, his heart was still racing regardless and the panic that had washed over him wasn’t something that would just fade in an instant. 

And David should have known better than to sneak up on Blaine. They all knew how jumpy he was on a  _ good _ day. Today might not have been a bad day, but it certainly hadn’t been a good one. 

Which is exactly why Blaine elected to not warn David that Wes was running up behind him, letting him instead be taken by full surprise when suddenly his best friend had jumped onto his back.

“David, I’m sorry, please take me back!” Wes cried dramatically, clinging on tightly to the older boy as David struggled to balance himself with the sudden weight on his back. “I love you. David, please!” 

David’s loud and exasperated sigh after he finally got a secure grip on Wes was all it took to send Jeff and Nick devolving into a fit of laughter, especially as Wes continued to whine “You’re my platonic husband, you can’t just divorce me, David. Think about the children!” 

“You are the children,” David grumbled, causing Wes to gasp loudly and even Blaine began to giggle quietly at the hurt look on the lead council member’s face. Kurt was the only watching the scene silently, a bemused expression on his face. 

“Why are you being so mean to me, David? What did I ever do to you?” Wes whined, fake tears in his eyes and in his voice, and David sighed again wearily, closing his eyes for several seconds to collect himself before saying to Kurt and Blaine 

“We need to talk about this spy thing and what we’re going to do about it. But I’m going to need coffee if I have to keep dealing with this idiot.” David gestured to Wes, who fell silent at the mention of coffee, fake tears disappearing as he asked 

“We’re getting coffee?” 

“Blaine is going to get coffee for us. We’re going to find a table.” David replied, shifting Wes’s weight so he could dig his wallet out of his pocket, handing it over to Blaine. “I’ll pay for Wesley’s too since he thinks I’m a horrible platonic husband.” 

“David! You do love me!” Wes exclaimed happily, leaning forward so he could press a sloppy kiss to David’s cheek. “I knew it.” 

“Don’t push your luck Montgomery,” David threatened, but there was the faintest of smiles on his faces as he attempted to wipe his cheek off on his shoulder. “We’ll meet you guys at the normal spot, okay?” 

David walked off after receiving an affirmative head nod from Blaine, carrying Wes along as if the extra weight was nothing to him (and considering how common it was for Wes to be riding David, it was almost second nature to the older of the duo by now). 

Blaine turned to Kurt, smiling mischievously as he pulled out David’s card. “Come on, Kurt. David has some coffee’s to buy us.” 

* * *

“And we should be live,” Oliver said, leaning back in their chair so the others could see as their computer lit up with the camera feed from the Dalton cafe, the audio kicking in a second later and filling the surprisingly quiet room with more chatter. “I should be able to isolate the audio of our boys if you give me a second. Luckily their table is fairly close to the camera which should make it easier.”

“Oliver, you legitimately terrify me,” Mason said seriously, causing the young genius to grin brightly up at him. 

“Thank you.” 

“I know we worry about Charlie and Julius destroying the world,” Connor started as he walked up on the other side of Oliver, past the twins who were practically draping over the back of Oliver’s chair to see what was happening, “But really I think Oli is more dangerous with their hacking skills.” 

“Yeah, but does Oliver have a device that can destroy a small island?” Charlie called from the bed, where and he Julius we sat pouring over something they refused to tell the others about, only half paying attention to what the others were up to. Enough though that they heard when their reputation of most deadly Marauders came into question. 

“That’s also slightly unstable and the full effects of which are unknown?” Julius added casually, followed immediately by him muttering something only Charlie could hear and marking the paper. As if they both hadn’t just admitted to having created a weapon of mass destruction at some point. 

“The fact the two of you are actively advocating for the fact you’re more dangerous is… terrifying.” Ben shivered, and Charlie and Julius smiled proudly as the others made various noises in agreement. Only Oliver had a small smirk on their face as they casually said 

“I don’t know, I still think Chalius is harmless.” 

Charlie and Julius both gasped loudly, sitting up straight so they could better defend themselves (because clearly, they were the exact opposite of harmless), but before they could the twins were shushing the entire room, gesturing towards the screen where Kurt had now joined Wes and David at their usual table in the Dalton cafe.

**GredAndForge:** No more talking, the spy is here

**ForgeAndGred:** We want to make sure we hear everything that happens.

**Bie:** omg he looks so nervous sitting across from Wes and David

**AThousandYears:** Well, when you consider how he met them it makes sense

**AThousandYears:** “David love me” yeah i’d be scared around them too

**ConFromAcrossThePond:** Why did Blaine leave the poor kid alone with them?

**OrganizedChaos:** I mean it’s not like B is  _ known  _ for making smart decisions 

**Oliver &Company: ** he seems to make smarter decisions than most of y’all 

**OrganizedChaos:** That’s because he’s arguably the most normal of all of us with the most normal life experience, of course he makes better decisions 

**PianoMan:** also he has more self-preservation than most of us

**GredAndForge:** who is she? 

**ForgeAndGred:** never heard of her

**ExplodingCharlie:** too real of a mood

**PianoMan:** … 

**OrganizedChaos:** and there goes Charlie being knocked to the floor by Julius 

**Bie:** Chalius is real #confirmed

**ForgeAndGred:** we wish

**NotARat:** Blaine’s here!!! 

**ConFromAcrossThePond:** oh my god so that’s where he was 

**AThousandYears:** when missing, assume Blaine has gone for coffee.

**ExplodingCharlie:** Isn’t Blaine not supposed to have coffee like right after having a panic attack? 

**GredAndForge:** if we don’t tell Cooper this never happened 

_ “Kurt, this is Wes and David”  _

**Bie:** We have a name!!

**AThousandYears:** now get ready for Blaine to repeat it for the rest of all eternity 

_ “It’s very civilized for you to invite me to coffee before you beat me up for spying.” _

**ForgeAndGred:** !!

**OrganizedChaos:** honey no 

_ “We are not going to beat you up.”  _

_ “You were such a terrible spy, we thought it was sort of… endearing.” _

**GredAndForge:** also Ariel has a huge crush and we’ve never seen him talk to a stranger so… 

**PianoMan:** you know this is why he didn’t choose to take you two, right? 

**ForgeAndGred:** We know!

_ “Which made me think that spying on us wasn’t the real reason you came.”  _

**NotARat:** look at Kurt’s face 

**Oliver &Company: ** Blaine got it spot on, didn’t he? 

**ForgeAndGred:** if anyone would be able to tell someone’s being bullied 

**GredAndForge:** it would be Ariel

_ “Can I ask you guys a question? Are you guys all gay?”  _

**AThousandYears:** I mean… 

_ Blaine laughed softly. “No, No. I mean, I am, but these two have girlfriends.”  _

_ “This is not a gay school.”  _

**OrganizedChaos:** it kinda is though 

**ConFromAcrossThePond:** there’s  _ some  _ straight kids. like wes

**Oliver &Company: ** but if the majority is somewhere along the Queer spectrum you could argue Dalton  _ is  _ a gay school 

_ “We just have a zero-tolerance harassment policy.”  _

_ “Everybody gets treated the same. No matter what they are. It’s pretty simple.” _

**GredAndForge:** well that’s the general intention anyways 

**ForgeAndGred:** doesn’t make the fact it's a gay school any less true 

**NotARat:** Dalton: Home of the Queers and also good allies like Wes 

**Bie:** Is anyone else watching Kurt right now? 

**Bie:** he… looks like he’s going to cry 

_ “Would you guys excuse us?”  _

**PianoMan:** of course B noticed 

**ExplodingCharlie:** he’s almost as good as Coop at reading people who are upset 

**AThousandYears:** personal experience helps with that

**AThousandYears:** especially in something like this. 

_ Wes hesitated a minute, sharing a look with David over Blaine’s head before he nodded, and the two stood up. “Take it easy, Kurt.” _

**OrganizedChaos:** and Wes and David show up in 3

**OrganizedChaos:** 2 

**OrganizedChaos:** 1 

**Gavel &Me: ** guys 

**OrganizedChaos:** right on time 

**MinuteMan:** Blaine just kicked us out so he can talk to Kurt (that’s the spy) alone 

**Gavel &Me: ** he was right about this being about more than spying 

**ForgeAndGred:** we know 

**GredAndForge:** we’re in Ben and Oliver’s room right now 

**ForgeAndGred:** doing some spying of our own

**MinuteMan:** we’ll be there soon 

_ “I take it you’re having trouble at school.” _

**NotARat:** Does Blaine always state the obvious like that? 

**ConFromAcrossThePond:** he’s nervous leave him be

_ “I’m the only person out of the closet at my school. And I tried to stay strong about it, but there’s this Neanderthal who’s made it his mission to make my life a living hell. And nobody seems to notice.” _

**ForgeAndGred:** what’s the name of this Neanderthal? 

**GredAndForge:** we just want to talk 

**OrganizedChaos:** You should go after the whole school really if they’re the ones letting it happen 

**GredAndForge:** now that is an excellent idea, middle Taylor 

**OrganizedChaos:** … 

**OrganizedChaos:** call me that again and die

_ “I know how you feel. I got taunted at my old school,” _

**PianoMan:** that’s an understatement 

**ExplodingCharlie:** more like he almost got his life ripped from his hands 

_ “and it really pissed me off. I even complained about it to the faculty. And they were sympathetic and all, but you could just tell that nobody really cared. It was like, ‘hey, if you’re gay, your life’s just gonna be miserable. Sorry. Nothing we can do about it.’” _

**Oliver &Company: ** public schools are… trash 

**Bie:** they are the literal worst yes 

_ “So I left. I came here. Simple as that.” _

**GredAndForge:** no 

**ForgeAndGred:** not simple as that 

**NotARat:** he’s probably just trying to downplay it so he doesn’t scare Kurt 

**AThousandYears:** and it does hurt him to talk about it 

**OrganizedChaos:** that’s not B’s lying voice 

_ “So you have two options. I mean, I’d love to tell you to just come enroll here, but tuition at Dalton’s sort of steep, and I know that’s not an option for everybody.” _

**Oliver &Company: ** if there were more scholarships it could help 

**ExplodingCharlie:** I know it’s sort of early to call it… 

**ExplodingCharlie:** but could we try to work that as our charity this year? 

**Gavel &Me: ** we can keep it in mind at the very least, yes 

**MinuteMan:** two-thirds of the council approves it at least to go as far as voting. But we’ll have to figure up logistics 

**MinuteMan:** later

_ “Or you can refuse to be the victim. Prejudice is just ignorance, Kurt.” _

**PianoMan:** That’s… a view sure 

**ConFromAcrossThePond:** you don’t agree? 

**PianoMan:** I want to 

**PianoMan:** but I don’t know if I can

_ “And you have a chance right now to teach him.”  _

_ “How?”  _

_ “Confront him. Call him out.” _

**Bie:** Blaine no

**ConFromAcrossThePond:** and we’re back to B making bad decisions 

_ “I ran, Kurt. I didn’t stand up. I let bullies chase me away. And it is something that I really, really regret.” _

**GredAndForge:** ariel… 

**OrganizedChaos:** he’s still not lying 

**ExplodingCharlie:** he came to Dalton to save his life. It was more than just running… 

**AThousandYears:** it doesn’t matter 

**AThousandYears:** life or death, choice or not, it always feels a little bit like running 

**ForgeAndGred:** always feels like you let them win… 

**GredAndForge:** like you lost forever

**PianoMan:** …  _ y’all  _

**GredAndForge:** we should talk to Ariel about this

**Gavel &Me:** And tell him that he didn’t run? 

**ForgeAndGred:** no

**MinuteMan:** No?

**GredAndForge:** He  _ did  _ run 

**ForgeAndGred:** but it was for a good reason

**GredAndForge:** and it doesn’t make him weaker for choosing to leave

**OrganizedChaos:** you two want to do this alone, don’t you? 

**GredAndForge:** We’ve been in Blaine’s shoes before

**ForgeAndGred:** We know how he feels 

**GredAndForge:** and we have a pretty good idea of what the right thing to tell him is.

**ForgeAndGred:** just… trust us on this one

**OrganizedChaos:** we do. 

**GredAndForge:** thank you 

**ExplodingCharlie:** and while they do that, maybe the rest of you could help Julius and I with a little problem? 

**Gavel &Me: ** what did you two do? 

**PianoMan:** well it’s more like what  _ didn’t  _ we do 

**PianoMan:** which is remember to put the lid all the way back on the tank in our room meaning that it’s inhabitants escaped

**NotARat:** Aren’t pets banned from Dalton? 

**ExplodingCharlie:** well yes but technically he wasn’t a pet

**PianoMan:** he was more like a… rescue animal we holding until we can find him a new home 

**MinuteMan:** what have you two done this time 

**ExplodingCharlie:** … 

**ExplodingCharlie:** legally you’re probably better off  _ not  _ knowing the details.

**ConFromAcrossThePond:** heard that one before

**PianoMan:** we just need your help finding our escapee before someone hurts him and possibly ruins our entire set up 

**Bie:** you’re not like using these animals for experiments or anything, are you? 

**ExplodingCharlie:** Absolutely Not! 

**PianoMan:** We save them from those kinds of people

**PianoMan:** We’re not monsters 

**Bie:** then i’m in. 

**Bie:** what are we searching for

**ExplodingCharlie:** uh Mason, you might want to just leave the chat now before we tell everyone 

**OrganizedChaos:** Why? 

**PianoMan:** Well, you’d probably rather not know what may or may not be set loose in the dorm hall 

**Oliver &Company:** Why wouldn’t Mase want to know? 

**OrganizedChaos:** oh my god 

**OrganizedChaos:** Tell me you did NOT let a snake loose in Dalton 

**ExplodingCharlie:** a python to be specific but yeah 

**OrganizedChaos:** oh mY GOD 

**OrganizedChaos:** guys WHAT THE FUCK 

**PianoMan:** Monty is harmless 

**PianoMan:** he’s probably going to be more afraid of you then you are of him 

**OrganizedChaos:** DOUBTFUL 

**ExplodingCharlie:** I mean, he’s been abused by humans most of his life up until the point we rescued him so I’d say Juls is probably right 

**OrganizedChaos:** you agree with your boyfriend doesn’t change the fact you’re both wrong 

**PianoMan:** his… 

**PianoMan:** Can y’all just please help us find Monty?

**ExplodingCharlie:** He’s supposed to be going to a rescue tomorrow but if we can’t find him… 

**MinuteMan:** I understand now why Evan was always so exhausted 

**MinuteMan:** looking after you idiots is exhausting 

**Bie:** is David our new mom? 

**AThousandYears:** yes

**NotARat:** does that make Wes our dad? 

**ConFromAcrossThePond:** step-father

**AThousandYears:** y e s 

**Gavel &Me: ** I told you we had children to think of David!!

**MinuteMan:** you’re still one of them 

**Gavel &Me: ** uh!

**ExplodingCharlie:** okay but guys 

**PianoMan:** what about Monty? 

**MinuteMan:** we’ll help you idiots find your snake 

**ExplodingCharlie:** thank you!! 

**Gavel &Me: ** besides if Dean Windsor finds out I’m sure we’ll all wind up getting blamed anyways

**Bie:** one for all and all for one 

**Oliver &Company: ** that’s the three musketeers 

**AThousandYears:** Jeff’s not wrong, it’s also kind of us

**ExplodingCharlie:** me and Juls have marked the most likely locations for Monty to be hiding based upon what we know about him and similar hiding spots he’s got to before 

**OrganizedChaos:** this isn’t the first time he’s escaped?!?!

**PianoMan:** no 

**PianoMan:** but it is the first time we’re fairly certain he’s left our room 

**ExplodingCharlie:** he usually returns to his tank within a few hours but this time… he hasn’t 

**PianoMan:** if we divide and conquer we should be able to find him in no time. 

**OrganizedChaos:** and until then I am going to hide in the art room which is, as always, snake-free 

**PianoMan:** suit yourself 

**ExplodingCharlie:** let us know if you  _ do  _ see anything 

**OrganizedChaos:** trust me if I see something

**OrganizedChaos:** everyone will know 

* * *

_ “I ran, Kurt. I didn’t stand up. I let bullies chase me away. And it is something that I really, really regret.” _

“Do you wish you had stayed?” Kurt asked quietly, breaking the silence that had fallen over the two of them ever since Blaine had finished his little speech. Blaine tilted his head in confusion at Kurt’s question, and quickly the older boy clarified “At your old school, I mean. You said you regretted letting them chase you away. Does that mean you would rather be there than at Dalton?” 

Blaine frowned slightly, leaning back in his chair as he tried to consider how to answer Kurt’s question without revealing too much information. The last thing Kurt needed right now was Blaine’s own troubles on top of what he was dealing in his personal life. And even though they hardly knew each other, a small part of Blaine’s mind was yelling that he should protect Kurt from his past at all costs. 

Blaine could have given the honest answer then and there and tried to explain to Kurt the complicated feelings towards his old school, the events that drove him to Dalton, about the anger and the fear that plagued him every day since. 

Instead, Blaine forced a smile, digging out a pen and paper from his bag as he answered “I love Dalton, Kurt. I love the Warblers and all of my friends and I wouldn’t give that up for the world. But… I wish it had been on better terms that I came here. 

“Better terms?” Kurt repeated apprehensively, and Blaine nodded. His smile softened as he wrote something down on the paper and slid it across the table. 

“It’s not as bad as it sounds, I promise. And maybe if you stick around long enough you’ll find out more of what I mean.” 

On the paper was Blaine’s number, his name signed below and i dotted with a heart in a way that was so unmistakably Blaine it made it made Kurt’s heart flutter just slightly. Though they had just met, already Kurt could feel himself falling. There was just something about Blaine that was drawing him in. 

“Was that a pickup line, Blaine Warbler?” Kurt couldn’t help but tease, laughing as a blush crossed Blaine’s face, along with a shy smile that gave away just how flustered the younger boy was despite Blaine’s best attempt to try and keep his composure. 

“Thank you, Blaine. For everything,” Kurt added sincerely, giving Blaine his first real smile in what felt like months. For the first time in forever finally, it felt like there was somebody who understood what he was going through. Somebody who really cared, and who wanted to help. Talking to Blaine, a little bit of the weight had been lifted off of his shoulders so it was no longer crushing him. Kurt didn’t have the words to express how grateful he was for that. So he just repeated, “Thank you.” 

Blaine smiled comfortingly, reaching across the table and squeezing Kurt’s hand for the briefest of moments before he stood up, “Come on. I’ll walk you to your car.” 

* * *

The twins waited until Blaine had said goodbye to Kurt before they appeared out of the woodwork to talk to him about what he had said earlier.

Blaine was expecting them, or at the very least he was expecting some amount of the Marauders to be waiting to ambush him after talking to the spy. Not only were the boys too nosy for their own good, but the protectiveness they felt over Blaine often drove it to the next level. Wherever he was, whoever he was with, there was no doubt you would find one of the Marauders close by. 

It was as annoying as it was endearing. 

“You guys really can’t leave me alone for more than three seconds, can you?”  Blaine sighed as the twins appeared on either side of him, almost the exact second after the front doors had closed behind Kurt. “I can take care of myself, believe it or not.” 

“We know you can, Ariel,” James assured, smiling softly down at Blaine, who had turned around to face the two with his arms crossed, completely unamused. 

“We didn’t come because we didn’t think you couldn’t take care of yourself,” Josh said, causing Blaine to raise an eyebrow at them warily. 

“Then why  _ are  _ you here?” 

The twins exchanged a careful look before Josh explained “We wanted to talk to about what you said to the spy. To Kurt.” 

“About before.” 

“How did you two know about that?” Blaine asked, narrowing his eyes as he looked between their guilty faces, realizing after a moment, “You two were spying on me, weren’t you?” 

“It wasn’t just us!” Josh defended, 

“And Oliver was the one who actually hacked the cameras,” James added, although it didn’t do much to sway Blaine’s blame. 

“This was Josh’s idea wasn’t it?” Blaine asked, causing the twin in question to gasp in mock offense 

“How do you know it wasn’t James?” 

“Because James wouldn’t want to get the others in trouble so he would have suggested you break into the main office to get to cameras,” Blaine explained easily, rolling his eyes at the pair as if it was stupid for them to even ask. “Josh is the extrovert so of course his first solution would be to ask the others for help and to join you in your madness.” 

“Okay Mr. Smarty Pants,” Josh teased, laughing as Blaine playfully shoved him for the nickname. 

“You love my ability to tell you apart and you know it,” Blaine teased back as the three started walking, across the main entranceway and out the door on the other side, heading back towards the dorms which sat in another building a ways behind the school. “There has to be someone who can keep you straight,” 

“Ariel, you should be the first to know that no one can keep us straight.” James butted in, causing Blaine to sigh exasperatedly despite the smile tugging at the edge of his lips. 

“I really hate you two, I hope you know that,” 

* * *

“Why do you want to talk to me about what I said to Kurt anyways?”

It wasn’t until they were back in Blaine’s room together that he remembered the reason the twins had said they had shown up in the first place. Sitting atop his desk, Blaine drew his feet up underneath him, focusing on his nails as he added: “It’s not like I told him any details about what happened, and even if I did it would have been my choice to make what I said and didn’t say.”

Josh and James shared a look between themselves, trying to figure out how to word their concerns and the concerns of the others without causing Blaine to puff up in his defenses or deflate in on himself in fear. 

“There was… some concern amongst the group about some of the things you said,” James said finally, walking over to sit in the desk chair at Blaine’s feet, offering the younger boy his stress ball from the drawers which Blaine gladly took to fidget with in hopes of channeling some of his anxiety. 

“What-What-What What things?” Blaine asked, his voice quieter this time as he felt his anxiety spike, evident in the way he stuttered over his words and James placed a gentle hand over his on the stress ball, saying soothingly. 

“It’s okay Ariel. You’re okay, you’re safe. I promise we’re not going to get upset or disappointed or angry with you. Josh and I understand.” 

“Underst-st-stand what?” 

“We understand how it feels like running,” Josh said, walking up behind James but making sure he left a little space between them so that Blaine wouldn’t feel too crowded or overwhelmed by a second presence on the chance that even the first being so close was almost too much to bear. “And how even as the right decision it’s something you never stop regretting.” 

“The others got really upset when you told Kurt you let bullies chase you away,” James explained, looking down to collect himself for a moment as the weight of old memories came flooding back, and his voice sounded tighter as he continued “They wanted to talk you out of that because they don’t know how it feels…To them, the issue is black and white and they can’t see that it’s so much more,” 

Blaine stuttered, eyes wide as he looked between the twins trying to find some sort of words because suddenly the lump in his throat wasn’t just from anxiety but something else, and all he wanted to do was be able to ask what were they keeping from him, what weren’t they saying that had James on the verge of tears and Josh moving closer to grab his brother’s hand despite his initial reservations about crowding too close. He couldn’t get any words to form though, and so he sat waiting in the silence until finally, Josh locked eyes with him.

“Did you know we ran once too, Ariel? Actually, the two of us ran from a lot of schools. We weren’t kidding when we told you Dalton was our first home because before then we bounced from school to school,” 

“Most of the time it was our own troublemaking that got us kicked out of schools but sometimes… there were bullies who forced us away.” James' voice shook as he spoke, and when Blaine looked down he was shocked to find there were tears gathering in the eldest twins’ eyes. As James continued to speak, they spilled over, running down his cheeks as he explained “The last time ended with us being put into homeschool, after a few of the bullies pushed Josh down the stairs. He hit his head on the way down and if there had been even a few degrees of difference in the angle he did it could have paralyzed him or even…” 

James trailed off, shaking his head unable to it out loud all these years later. Josh squeezed James’ hand tightly, tears in his own eyes, and the only thing that kept him from pulling his brother into a hug was the fact he was still attached to Blaine and besides they both knew the tears really wouldn’t be able to stop if he did. 

So Josh settled for squeezing his hand as hard as he could, and when he felt ready saying to Blaine “Even though James and I both know the reason we left school was because we couldn’t risk something like that, or something worse than that, happening again, still we always regretted being chased away.” 

“It’s never stopped feeling like a defeat because in reality that is what it was. The bullies won. We were the ones that retreated.” 

“That doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing though,” 

“It’s doesn’t?” Blaine asked, his voice quiet and confused, unable to see how the two could coexist when defeat was always meant to be shameful because it meant losing. 

James smiled softly despite his tears, shaking his head. 

“Sometimes, Ariel, it takes more courage to run away then it does to stand up and fight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact this was supposed to cover the events until the end of Never Been Kissed, but things seemed to have gotten away from me.   
> Hopefully, the antics of the boys were amusing though and not totally annoying.   
> And hopefully keeping track of things worked too, but if not feel free to ask questions or tell me in the comments I'm doing too much and I'll try to scale back.   
> Anyways, until next time,   
> You can find me on tumblr @Potterhead2468   
> Feel free to message me to chat or with questions, if you have questions for any of the characters I'll answer those too  
> And maybe I'll start posting more spoilers and updates there if anyone is interested.

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhh we are back ladies, gents, non binary pals. It's good to see y'all again.  
> Or, for all you new folks, Hi, welcome,  
> this is a continuation in my series about Blaine's life, following his second year at Dalton and his relationship with Kurt.  
> Thank y'all so much for reading, and hopefully barring no unforseen complications, I'll see you again very soon.


End file.
